In early 2015, a spate of high quality concerts rarely seen in Toronto, began with the Art of Time Ensemble. On the stage of Harbourfront Centre Theatre, they presented music by Lou Reed, interpreted by some of Canada’s finest arrangers, instrumentalists and singers. Art of Time Ensemble is the creation of its artistic director, pianist Andrew Burashko, a passionate and informed communicator with a love for music that stretches far beyond the borders commonly thought to demarcate music categories.
Andrew’s programs are based on themes. For a 2013 programme titled Franz Schubert, Source and Inspiration, composers of Jazz and Art music were commissioned to arrange for voice and ensemble, a theme from Franz Shubert’s
Piano Trio No. 2 in Eb Major. The trio was played first and then the arrangements were performed by five singers, Carol Pope (Rough Trade), Andy Maize (Skydigers), Gregory Hoskins, John Southworth and Danny Michel.
Andrew often commissions Toronto arrangers, a diverse group of superlative musicians who, though relatively unknown to the general public, never fail to astonish audiences with their ability to bring fresh perspectives to popular war horses. Fortunately, Art of Time is recording many of their pearls.
An Art of Time programme titled What is Sacred, began with Arvo Part’s Stabat Mater, followed by three superb arrangements of songs with religious themes: Wayfaring Stranger, arranged by Gavin Bryars; Pilgrim; and You Are Not Alone. After intermission, Olivier Messiaen’s Louange A L’Eternite De Jesus from his Quartet for the End of Time, and a medley of African American spirituals and Oscar Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom were sung, revival style, by Jackie Richardson.
The evening closed with a beautifully subtle and complex interweaving of six female dancers, choreographed by David Earle to the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652). The Miserere was hauntingly sung by Choir 21 as they stood like angels in the first balcony, sending heavenward Allegri’s plea. All this was much too sublime to be followed by anything else.
Attempts to merge art forms have been vulnerable to dismissal by purists or outright failure in the public marketplace. But Andrew does not merge art forms. He respects their individuallity and his classical discipline protects them from being mistreated. An idea must pass through a stringent artistic filter before it blossoms on an Art of Time stage.
In the twenty years from 1970 to 1990, a few elite ensembles, devoted to mostly white western art music, received the majority of government money. Toronto ensembles have favoured repertoire from one of roughly five established genres of westrn art music: opera, ballet, symphony, choral and chamber. They must submit mission statements in order to be eligible for government funding. These statements put them into a bureaucratic niche that can obligate them to a particular repertoire.
In the the 1990s government arts agencies began to realign their financial priorities in response to social and political pressures, gradually achieving more balanced funding by region and favouring emerging composers, pop music, First Nations musicians, and other minority groups. Each re-allocation made the financial pie smaller, dramatically reducing art music budgets. The recent economic down turn exacerbated a feeling of uncertainty within the arts community. Some ensembles reduced the number and frequency of their concerts, limited or re-directed their programme choices, greatly reduced the fees paid to musicians and began exploring ways to work with other ensembles.
In conjunction with his many artistic friends, Andrew is creating fresh concert experiences for traditional Toronto audiences while attracting new concert goers, young and old, hip and staid. The effect this generational blend has on audiences is immediately apparent. As one takes a seat for an Art of Time concert, there is a frisson in the air rarely felt in other venues. So far Andrew has avoided the malady of uncertainty afflicting other Toronto arts organizations. His large and ever growing audience, aided by a group of faithful collaborators and sponsors, portends a long and healthy future. Andrew’s unique artistic love affair has captured the imaginations of artists and concert goers. Concerts by Art of Time Ensemble have become one of Toronto’s most popular sources of art entertainment.
I encourage readers of this article to visit Art of Time Ensemble web site for a complete list of its programmes, artists and videos.
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Robin Engelman 
Baltimore Meets the Press.
Sunday, 2 May
Every Sunday morning I have a coffee or two in bed and watch so called major network news shows usually beginning with Meet the Press. This Sunday the entire programme was devoted to racial strife in Baltimore, Maryland. The panel was unusually well informed and articulate. They often spoke in complete sentences, knew some history and expressed thoughtful ideas, uninterrupted by other guests or by host Chuck Todd. So rather than switch channels, I stayed tuned to the end, hoping to see or hear something from my home town.
I was born and raised in Baltimore. Natives say “Ballmer” and it took years of living in Canada and constantly being recognized as a Yankee, before I mastered Bal-ti-more. “Merlun”, or Maryland was another challenge and I tried hard to avoid ever mentioning the state where “Ballmer” could be found.
I lived on Howard Park Avenue in west Baltimore, just a block and a half north of Liberty Heights Avenue and a few blocks from Gwynn Oak Junction, my perennial hang out. I attended P.S. 218, Garrison Junior High and was in my first year at Forest Park High, when we moved 30 miles further northwest to the farming community of Westminster. During my years in Baltmore, unless I trekked downtown to Baltimore’s dock area, I rarely saw a black person or a person of any colour other than white. This was during the 1950s when Baltimore’s population was 3/4 white. Today it’s 2/3 black. I thought it kinda neat that one of my best friends and his Father were the only Jews I knew. My love affair with golf began on Forest Park Golf Course, an easy walk from my house, where I caddied, played golf with a 7 iron and searched the rough for lost golf balls.
When news of the revolution in Baltimore hit the tube, placing its beginnings in west Baltimore, I was very interested in learning details. Druid Hill Park was frequently mentioned, a lovely space of greenery and play I’d visited, but I’d never heard of Sandtown, reported to be the epicenter of the disturbances. Interested to see if some of my old haunts might make the tele, I watched every channel that might devote extensive coverage to the affair, BBC, PBS, and the major US networks. Unfortunately, I recognized nothing.
The Meet the Press panel discussed poverty, poor education, father-less households, prejudice, police violence, incarceration rates, poor housing and poorer job opportunities – the usual shibboleths mentioned after every black uprising in the US. I wasn’t learning anything new. Baltimore and any city with a history of racial unrest, had faced the very same issues and no one, especially local, state and Federal politicians had acted upon any of them.
So, in the end, my attention was caught by the Meet the Press sponsors. Given the subject matter of this programme, I found their presence to be disturbingly ironic, spiteful and dismissive of the public’s intelligence. Each one declared itself champions of the working man, builders of secure futures and guardians of the environment: Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Koch Industries, Boeing, Locheed Grumman and Sea World.
Consider, these sponsors are all companies known to have destroyed the middle class, rocked the world’s economy, paid its employees unlivable wages, polluted our environment and raped the public trust and treasury by charging unconscionable prices for military hardware. All these companies, and many more, are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to convince the public they are necessary and have kind hearts and good intentions. And yes, even Sea World spent millions to convince us that keeping whales penned up is a good thing.
Posted by robinengelman on May 3, 2015 in Articles, Commentaries & Critiques
Tags: Baltimore Maryland, Druid Hill Park, Forest Park Golf Course, Meet the Press, Sandtown